General Business Discussions

mountainlandscaper said "I'd of rather had this and other places that offered support,help and advice instead of a cold start and figure it out as you go by reading and hands on,and learning by mistake."

AssistSuper said "If I could start.....well if I started up now....I'd sell my truck and buy a older 3/4 ton that's in good shape, a large open trailer, a 48" w/b, good trimmers and blowers and just go out and put out gobs and gobs and gobs of flyers. Once I got a good base going I'd start selling renovations, apps, installs, etc. All that stuff where the 'real' money is and using my school to my advantage against the guys that don't have any."

Allseasonturf said "There is a great deal of truth in what most everyone in here is saying, and I might add that what I am doing now to best myself is diverse my business into many different areas of expertise, such as low voltage outdoor lighting, deck repair and installs, flagstone and retaining wall installs, and most recently i'm getting ready to go back into installing satellite TV. Man I was so lucky to have the insight to learn as much as I could about as many feilds as I could. I'm able to fix or repair almost anything,you name it i fix it. Haveing knowledge is about my best attribute and knowing how to apply it is my next best."

work it said "There's not much I can say I would have done differently. My overhead is rock bottom. I have nice equipment and maintain it well. I only paid $900 for the truck which I have working perfectly again and once I finish fixing up the body it'll be great for advertising the business I'm getting ready to start (auto body paint and repair) as well as the lawn business. Everything is paid off and making me money.

The only things I wish I had to start out with are a good software program for billing, setting up routes, and scheduling lawn applications. The other program is a landscape design program. I've lost a couple landscape jobs because of not having one."

jwholden said "I would have been more selective in who I worked for and charged more for my services. If a customer doesn't want to hire me because my price is too high walk away and don't negotiate my price."